Alessandro Beber's new origami tessellations book, & more!

[ale_beber]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/96 ... -with-pape

Dear friends of the origami forum,

"A few years ago, I developed a new technique of origami tessellations, allowing the creation of beautifully intricate geometric designs, representing 3-D shapes and optical illusions, just by folding a single sheet of paper. During the past year, I worked hard on finding a method for teaching this technique to others, in order to allow people to reproduce those designs as well as creating their own ones. I prepared tons of graphics, collected all the instructions in a book, and prepared mesmerizing t-shirts and other gadgets to support this project!"

"And now I need your help to bring this project to life!!!"

"By contributing to this project, you are not just buying an object, but you are making its realization possible! Therefore, every single help will be important. If you cannot help with money, you can still have an important part in its realization by spreading the word about this project among your friends and communities!"


Find out more on kickstarter!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/96 ... -with-pape

Thank you for your attention.

[steingar]

While your artwork looks lovely I fail to see any you require donations to complete your instructions. Some of us have written entire books with no remuneration until after publication. Writing and diagramming are not entirely capital intensive activities.

[Brimstone]

Alessandro, your book looks great.

Good luck with the funding.

In case you want to explore it, there is an option for authors (just for the book, not for the merchandising). It is called Createspace www.createspace.com a company owned by Amazon for on-demand printing. Many authors (known and unknown - I included) use it. You have to make everything yourself and then you upload it and they sell it through Amazon, what gives you worldwide distribution and the royalties are better than with traditional printing companies.

[ale_beber]

Thank you for your replies!

@steingar: The book is now ready to be published, I prepared all drawings, layout, editing etc myself, working for months without remuneration, and I am not asking any money for that. I need funds for printing it, since it will be a self-publication as I want to have full control on every aspect of this work, and I need to pay all the copies in advance. Otherwise, the book could not exist in printed form. I could publish it as an e-book right now, but I think it would be a waste, this is not what I want to do...

@Brimstone: I know there are CreateSpace and other print-on-demand services, and they could be a great option, allowing also for a broader distribution through Amazon. I admit I did not check all their details for this publication. In this case, I wanted some specific features of the book (as choosing the paper quality, full color printing, etc), and self-publishing was the best choice for me to be able to decide on all those aspects. The cost can be higher, but it is paid off by an overall higher quality. Lastly, since this book is aimed for experienced paperfolders, I think I can reach most of them through origami societies and convention, I don't know how much it would benefit from a broader distribution. But I am sure I will learn a lot from this project, and would love to try different methods for a next publication!

[greencube07]

I could publish it as an e-book right now, but I think it would be a waste, this is not what I want to do..

I don't get this. Are you saying that all origami e-book are useless and waste? Then that would be a bit rude to say..
E-books are great way to have publication and it has been for long time that many origami designers have managed to have their book out from that.. I don't understand why you say it's waste and don't publish it by both the paper one and e-book one..

[ale_beber]

@greencube07: This is only my personal opinion regarding my own book. Please, do not extend this to all digital books. I understand that some people may prefer e-books, therefore I am publishing this new one (as well as my older one) in both printed and digital formats.
Personally, I do not like much e-books, and I prefer much more buying one in printed form. I do not like reading a book or following diagrams looking on a screen, my eyes get tired soon, I much prefer taking it with my hands, turning the paper pages, and this way it is more likely I will read and fold from it. But I understand that e-book can be a fast method for publishing a new work, reaching different people, avoiding printing, shipping etc.
I would love to see all e-books also in printed form, but I understand that there are more difficulties for the authors (finding a publisher, or managing printing and distribution themselves), and with this project I am trying to overcome those, to have my own book printed and not being forced to publish it in digital form only.
As I said, these are my opinions and preferences, I am not judging other people's works, but I am trying to do my best for my own one.

[ale_beber]

some previews...

[steingar]

Thank you for your replies!

@steingar: The book is now ready to be published, I prepared all drawings, layout, editing etc myself, working for months without remuneration, and I am not asking any money for that. I need funds for printing it, since it will be a self-publication as I want to have full control on every aspect of this work, and I need to pay all the copies in advance. Otherwise, the book could not exist in printed form. I could publish it as an e-book right now, but I think it would be a waste, this is not what I want to do...

If you really want to publish it yourself you should pay for it yourself and not beg money from anyone. Were I going to self-publish I would simply do so, sell the copies and pocket the money. Jon Montroll has been doing exactly this for years.

Some of us publish books though publishers and get paid royalties. That means convincing a publisher that your ideas are worthwhile, not the easiest thing. The down side is you get only a tiny fraction of what's made on the work. The up side is you aren't stuck with quantities of unsold books if your project isn't popular.

As I write this I have a completed book sitting on the computer. I am in the exact same situation as you. The difference is I'm not asking anyone for anything.

[ale_beber]

@steingar:
As I said, I started the fundraising for collecting the funds needed for publishing the book. That means I do not have those funds myself, otherwise I would have probably done as you are saying. I am not begging money from anyone. Instead, this crowdfunding works mostly as a pre-sales system: the people who are interested in this book, would have bought it anyway once published, but buying it in advance they allow me to print the book, and for the book to really exist. This has also the advantage of discovering how many people would be interested, and decide if it really makes sense to publish it this way. In this case, yes, the interest is enough to justify publishing it this way. If the interest was lower, a better option would have been using some print-on-demand service to publish it, otherwise many copies would remain unsold.
I also received an offer from a publisher interested in this project, which I refused. Quite obviously (at least for me, and for this particular project).
Lastly, if you really have a book ready to be published, you should consider doing it, what are you waiting for? You may first start by checking how much interest there could be for it (I personally do not even know what your real name is, and what kind of origami you create...), and then you can simply publish it, as you suggested me! Come on!
Again, please, I am not begging. If you are not interested in this project, please spend your time making something more interesting and useful, for yourself and the world, instead of objecting what others are doing.
Thank you!

[origami_8]

Everyone is allowed his or her way of doing things. Having experience myself in working with a big publisher, I can totally understand why not to do it.
Like Alessandro said, Kickstarter is not begging. If you support the project you get real value for the money you spend. In the end you decide yourself what this might be, whether you fancy the book, a T-shirt or a bag. If you don't want to support the project, you don't have to. It's as simple as that.